The Turkish-Kurdish Conflict
I had made a few prophecies, but people really shouldn’t take them too seriously. All I’d done was predict Japan’s major earthquake and the spots where oil would gush forth. Were there a couple of other things? In any case, this level of accuracy could simply be a lucky guess.
“So you’re saying that’s what World War II means??”
“Then how large a force would we need to mobilize?”
The assembly members were gravely contemplating the matter. Ah, how on earth did I let that slip?
“No, well… I simply mean that a great war on a similar scale could occur, couldn’t it? It’s a matter of possibility. It’s not as if France would be communized by a communist Germany or anything of that sort. We must always remain prepared. That’s all I’m saying.”
“In the second war, France becomes a communist regime?”
“I said no.”
If these people started believing this, it would be trouble. They were taking it so seriously, but what if communist Germany turned out to be all hot air? Or what if the wars happened separately? It would be disastrous if they took my words as gospel.
Türkiye had to be left alone because it needed to serve as a bridgehead for any Italian or Greek advances in the Mediterranean.
“A second war… Hmm.”
“Exactly. Just wait and see. It’s all hypothetical. Hypothetical. Our Russia suffered a revolution during the first great war. That’s why we must consider every possibility and proceed with caution.”
This much of an excuse should suffice.
“Hmm. I understand what you mean.”
“Besides, aren’t we here to discuss the Kurdish matter? The war talk can wait. For now, just send medical support. That is, if they truly intend to fight for independence.”
If they were launching an independence war, helping them would be out of the question. What would we do about Syria or Iraq? The Kurds in those regions would clamor for aid, along with other ethnic groups in the Anglo-French occupied territories. That was simply not happening.
“What should we tell the Turkish side?”
“Let’s just be honest. The Kurds tried to use me to obtain support. Isn’t that it?”
Seeing how the Kurds had even mentioned my name in their request for aid, it looked as though they had already launched an armed independence bid. The writing was on the wall. A doomed one, at that. No wonder they had desperately invoked my name.
“Yes, Your Majesty. If we are not planning to target Türkiye under the pretext of the Kurds, then honestly, we would have nothing to say even if we joined Türkiye in suppressing them.”
Right. When I thought about it, that was true. How utterly insolent. To think they would dare speak of me in such a way? They had deliberately mentioned me while trying to turn the puppet Tsar into their tool?
“How impertinent. Then there is no reason to hide it.”
Atatürk would probably be furious once he learned of this. He might even march out with the army himself.
“Then shall we convey the truth to Türkiye?”
“Yes. Let’s speak plainly. There’s no reason to conceal it. Since they gave us Constantinople, we should remind them once more that Russia is Türkiye’s friend. Ah, one moment.”
“Yes?”
“Didn’t we develop new weapons? Let’s have them test those in Türkiye.”
This would be a good opportunity to field-test our tanks and aircraft. We weren’t at war ourselves at the moment, so it would be better to experiment through Türkiye. It was unfortunate for the Kurds, but weapons testing had to be done.
“Ah, an excellent idea. Weapons are most useful in war, after all. This is the perfect chance to support them with arms and evaluate the performance of our tanks and planes.”
Wait, not quite. I raised my hand slightly and continued.
“And we’ll send weapons to the Kurds as well.”
“Weren’t we only sending medical personnel?”
Come on. How could sending only medical staff count as a proper performance test? We should give one side the old weapons and see how they fared.
“We can simply hand over some of the older models. Since the quality of the weapons will differ from the start, Türkiye can hardly complain. Ah, and why not give them the weapons that Britain and France once supplied to us?”
We had given Chen Jiongming the newer weapons, but we still had plenty of Mosin-Nagants and French and British arms left over. It would be fine to toss an appropriate amount of those to the Kurds.
“A sound approach. If we wish to test weapon performance, that would be ideal. The White Army will follow Your Majesty’s will.”
That should do it. It was fortunate I had been present this time. If I had been off somewhere instead of attending the Duma, they might not have spoken of conquering Türkiye, but there would have been talk of punishing the Kurds for trying to exploit Charina’s authority, and the situation could have escalated. Of course, the other assembly members aside from the White Army faction would have dissuaded them.
Atatürk really should have kept a tighter lid on this sort of thing. What were they going to do if I weren’t around? In any case, since it had reached my ears, Atatürk could suffer a little himself. Yes. Call it a mutual destruction operation.
In Ankara, Türkiye, the matter of Kurdish support was conveyed to the Turkish government through the Russian ambassador. Upon hearing the news from Ismet Inönü, Atatürk was naturally incensed.
“They dared to seek help from Russia?”
The Kurds were already waging an armed independence struggle intense enough to warrant immediate troop deployment. Because Türkiye was weaker than in the original timeline, the revolt had broken out earlier. Atatürk had already been irritated by the Kurdish armed uprising; now that Russia was entangled in the affair, his anger burned even hotter. Had they not attempted to secure independence by openly latching onto Russia? What had given them such boldness? Perhaps they had firmly believed Russia would assist them. Even if that were not the case, the moment they requested help from Russia, they could not be left alone.
“At least Russia informed us. That is fortunate.”
“Hah, fortunate… I suppose one could call it that.”
What reason could they have had for telling us? The Russia of today was no longer a country run by the Tsar alone.
“In any event, it would have been troublesome if Russia had taken the Kurds’ side and intervened, would it not?”
Indeed. Did Charina truly wish to keep Türkiye as an ally? Russia possessed millions of elite troops hardened by the civil war. Frankly, this was the perfect opportunity to swallow Anatolia whole. Yet instead of using the Kurds as a pretext to advance, they were offering to help us instead. The part about sending medical personnel to the Kurds was displeasing, but they had to save face somehow.
“Still, sending medical personnel…”
Wasn’t that the same as giving the Kurds hope so they could harass Türkiye a little longer?
“They had their own circumstances to consider. In exchange, we have the weapons provided by Russia.”
“Did none go to the Kurdish side?”
“According to the officers dispatched to the field, several trucks bearing Russian flags have entered Mount Ararat.”
Then what was this? In the end, were they helping the other side as well? So the claim that they wanted Türkiye to remain their ally had been a lie? If they annexed Pontic Greece as well, they could simply roll over Türkiye.
“Hah, so it’s simply a mutual destruction scheme?”
“The Russian ambassador stated that the weapons going to the Kurds are all obsolete models from the civil war period or earlier. It was to preserve Charina’s dignity, he said. The ones coming to us are the new models.”
At Ismet Inönü’s words, Atatürk felt somewhat relieved. In the end, they intended to use the Türkiye-Kurdish conflict as a testing ground for their weapons—an rather unpleasant notion, but at least they were sending the new models to this side. The Kurds would have some old weapons already. So that was why they had spoken of medical personnel.
“Yes. That works. How much weaponry did they provide?”
It couldn’t be much. They were probably just making a token gesture. Still, for Russia to assist over the Kurdish issue at all was humiliating in itself. What exactly was their situation?
“Because the Kurds dared to exploit Charina’s authority, they have sent the Fyodorov automatic rifle, tanks, and aircraft with orders to crush them decisively.”
“Tanks and aircraft? While they sent the Kurds obsolete weapons and medical personnel. Hah. So they wish to play the saint, is that it?”
“It appears so.”
Sending weapons to the Turkish National Government while sending only medical personnel to the independence-seeking Kurds. This left one with the feeling of being manipulated by Russia.
“Avoid attacking areas where Russian medical personnel are present. There was also the recent revolt by the reactionaries, so we must suppress the Kurds thoroughly this time. I will go myself. You must attend the Moscow air defense pact negotiations.”
“Of course. Then I shall mobilize the National Army at once.”
Wishing to see Russia’s new weapons for himself, Atatürk personally led the army in an advance toward Mount Ararat, where the Kurdish forces had established their position.
Meanwhile, Ihsan Nuri Pasha and Biyarê Heskî Telli, who had been expecting Russian support, felt both gratitude and disappointment at the arrival of Russian weapons and medical personnel. To be honest, they had hoped for combat troops. Russia had gone so far as to establish Pontic Greece in order to reclaim Roman lands, yet now they were discarding this opportunity? It would have been the perfect justification.
“They say providing combat troops is impossible. Russia has fought too many wars and lacks the capacity.”
“Hmm. That is disappointing.”
With so many troops, how could they lack the capacity to wage war? This could only mean that Russia’s Charina had chosen to side with Türkiye rather than the Kurds. At least they had provided weapons out of consideration for their circumstances.
“Still, isn’t it fortunate they sent weapons at all? After all, we did try to exploit Charina’s name. We should be grateful for this much.”
True. Having received even weapons, they could not ask for too much. They had simply thrown the request out without any real expectation. It would have been different if the victorious powers of the great war had honored their promise to establish Kurdistan.
“That cannot be helped.”
“Even so, the Turkish dogs will never be able to crush our will for independence!”
Ihsan Nuri Pasha steeled his resolve. The arrow had already left the bow. During the Turkish War of Independence, they had seen Russia intervene and Atatürk yield. The Kurds had quickly rallied and risen up. They could not stop here.
“Ihsan Nuri Pasha! The Turks have mobilized their forces!”
“So it has come to this?”
Ihsan Nuri Pasha shot to his feet. Though the difference in strength was clear, he had no intention of yielding. If not now, when could they ever fan the flames of independence again? With Türkiye internally chaotic over the reactionaries and anti-secularists, this was truly their moment. Even if it meant death, they would not stop.
And then—
With a piercing whistle, the bombs began to fall. Using the bombers Russia had provided, the Turkish army commenced its bombardment. From below the mountain, Turkish infantry advanced behind a vanguard of tanks.
“What the hell is that?”
“Those tanks—our weapons can’t penetrate them at all!”
“Damn it.”
“Where did they get those weapons?”
The Turkish infantry could somehow be fought, but there was truly no way to deal with those bombers. This was an era without proper anti-aircraft guns, and the Kurds holding out on Mount Ararat without international support were already grateful for machine guns. In such a situation, the bombers were the worst possible nightmare for the Kurds on Mount Ararat.
“Turkish forces are pouring in from all directions!”
“Damn it, just fight for now!”
The Kurdish independence war raised by Ihsan Nuri Pasha and Biyarê Heskî Telli began to collapse helplessly before the Turkish National Army, armed with Atatürk’s fierce determination not to lose even the Kurds. Unlike the original history, they were crushed by Atatürk’s forces before they could even establish their state on Mount Ararat, reduced to a desperate resistance on the mountain’s edge.
Of course, it would be premature to say the Turkish army had completely suppressed the Kurds. The machine guns installed on the mountain ridges were proving difficult to overcome. This was largely because the Russian army had handed over everything that remained after supporting Chen Jiongming. Still, the Kurdish people had been scattered to the winds and were in no position to found a nation. Atatürk left the remaining Kurdish rebel forces to the troops he had dispatched on site and returned to Ankara.
However—
“Machine guns on the mountain ridges? Isn’t that a bit much?”
“Tanks can’t climb that high!”
“At least do the bombing properly!”
Unexpectedly, the fighting in the mountainous terrain of Mount Ararat dragged on for a long time.